http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/...3659451,00.html

Atkins Widow Demands Bloomberg Apology
Friday January 23, 2004 2:46 PM

NEW YORK (AP) - The widow of Dr. Robert Atkins went on national television Friday to demand that Mayor Michael Bloomberg apologize for calling the late diet guru ``fat.''

Veronica Atkins told ABC's ``Good Morning America'' that she was ``sick and tired of my husband being always maligned and his life's work being trivialized.''

The mayor apparently thought he was off camera when he made the comment while eating pasta at a photo op at a firehouse earlier this week. Using an expletive to express doubts about the details of Atkins' death, he said, ``I mean, the guy was fat.''

Atkins, whose diet stresses meat, eggs and cheese over pasta, bread and vegetables, died last April at 72 from head injuries sustained from a fall on an icy sidewalk.

Veronica Atkins asserted that her husband died from ``severe trauma to his head.'' His fall was unrelated to any health problems, and his arteries were clear, she said.

``I was very, very hurt, and I was angry'' about Bloomberg's remarks, she said.

Bloomberg had told reporters Thursday that he ``would never criticize someone about their waistline,'' and his spokesman Jordan Barowitz said that was much as an apology as there would be.

Barowitz declined to comment further Friday.

In his firehouse remarks, Bloomberg also said the food at an Atkins fund-raiser in the Hamptons had been ``inedible'' and that he had to spit an appetizer into his napkin.

Atkins' widow said the event's caterer ``considered to be one of the best in the Hamptons.''